The Hornets, ranked ninth in the newest Class D boy's basketball poll, hosted No. 1 Climax-Scotts and sent the Panthers home with a 51-50 defeat.

"The crowd was fantastic tonight and it's always nice to play at home," Mendon coach David Swanwick said. "We played them tough last year and that game was close. We played a great game tonight and I'm so excited for our kids."

The win over Climax was the first for Swanwick over the Panthers in his career.

"They are a solid team and this is just, this is awesome," Swanwick said, collecting his thoughts. "When two good teams play the score is often close and that was the case tonight. We had two good, athletic teams going at it so we knew the score was going to be close."

Early in the contest, it was clear the officials were letting both teams play. An up and down, fast-paced style saw both teams, who like to run, play wide open.

The game was tied at 14 after one quarter of action.

Climax continued the pace in the second quarter and had their highest output of the game with 17 points.

Mendon's Andy Brueck, at just 6-feet tall, was batting hard inside with the Panthers' front line of two 6-foot-8 players and 6-6 Luis Kramer. Brueck had multiple offensive rebounds and putbacks in the second quarter for Mendon, but Climax led 31-27 heading into the locker room.

"Andy worked his tail off tonight, he had a double-double and he was giving up 8-inches the entire night to those guys so that was incredible for us," Swanwick said. "But he wasn't the only one. Our entire team came together and played their tails off tonight."

In the third, Mendon chipped away and took the lead. The Hornets held a 16-12 advantage in the third quarter and both teams headed to the fourth tied at 43.

Malachi Satterlee, one of the 6-8 players for Climax, scored five of the team's seven points in the fourth quarter.

Erik Batten hit a crucial bucket late in the game for Mendon, putting the pressure completely on Climax, who was unable to get control of the contest late.

Mendon played well enough defensively, despite missing the front end of two 1-and-1's, to pick up the upset at home.

"I'm completely excited for our kids and our community," Swanwick said. "Climax-Scotts is a great team and I think we're a pretty good team, too."

Satterlee led all scorers with 24 points and was the only Climax player in double figures. Aaron Cook added seven.

Both are double figure scorers and Cook, who averages 18 points per game, was held scoreless in the second half.

Page 2 of 3 - Mendon was led in scoring by Erik Batten with 16. Zach Darmofal chipped in 13 while Brueck had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Joe Gales connected for eight points while both Marcus Craft and Kaleb McCarroll had two points.

Mendon shot just 1-of-18 (5.6 percent) from the 3-point line in the win.

"Hey, we'll take that with the effort we had tonight," Swanwick said with a laugh.

The Hornets will take to the road on Friday night, where they'll have a chance to wrap up the SJV title while playing at White Pigeon.

"We need to continue to work in practice heading up to that game because it's always tough to play there," Swanwick said of playing the Chiefs Friday. "But that game is a chance for us to win the league outright."

Galesburg 56, Constantine 33

Galesburg-Augusta battled tough and picked up a 56-33 road win over Constantine on Tuesday night.

The Rams were able to hold the Falcons to just three first quarter points and led 10-3 after eight minutes. Galesburg was able to add 17 more in the second compared to 12 for Constantine to lead 27-15 at the break.

Galesburg held advantages of 14-6 in the third and 15-12 in the fourth to win.

The Falcons were led by Cody Ley's 11 points while Bruce Heslet chipped in eight. Mike Harris tossed in six points, Luhk Mullendore added five, Perry White had two points and Lonnie Wright added a free throw for the Falcons, who are now 4-13 overall and 4-12 in KVA action.

K-zoo Cougars 75, Centreville 63

The Centreville boy's basketball team dropped a 75-63 decision to the Kalamazoo Cougars on Tuesday night.

The Cougars led 20-12 after the first eight minutes and took a 30-22 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Centerville had a good third quarter with 21 points, but the Cougars scored 26 and led 56-43 heading into the final eight minutes.

The Bulldogs held a 20-19 advantage in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough.